Diana's Blog Finished: 2010-09-12

Well I've finished working on Diana's blog, she just has to add some content and adjust the colour scheme to her liking. It is at Musings Of An Canadian Educator.

I have decided this is a good time to work on packaging my current site into a zip that other people can easily install, sort of like wordpress. I have a goal to have the alpha version of my CMS ready for download by November 31 see if I can make it. I know my CMS isn't the best, but I hope by making it public I can discover the flaws in it and make it better. I know some things need to be changed, features I put in because I like to control every little detail of my site but make it too complex for other people to like, so I guess I'll see which ones people like and which ones they want me to simplify.

There is a lot of talk in the web development community about not re-inventing the wheel; that I should just use the tools already provided. I don't like this as I think it's the best way to learn by starting from scratch. Since I'm self-taught this is how I teach myself, by seeing something I like and trying to reverse engineer it but with a twist so it's something I can use for my site; and in the same time I learn some new ways to code, more efficient, new commands, better ways to structure things. A lot of times when I ask for help people tell me not to reinvent the wheel, which really doesn't help me as I'm not trying to make a commercial product but trying to learn. And if I was making a commercial product what would be wrong with that? That kind of mentality is what allows monopolies to develop, I'm all for making more and more diversity in the range of software to choose from.

Another thing I see time and time again is not to under-value the work you're doing. Don't do this for free, or that for free, seems very lawyer like to me. Me giving away software for free isn't the same as a professional doing the same, you get what you pay for. If I teach a cooking class for free it doesn't undermine the food I create, and people will still want a chef to be in charge on the kitchen, not someone who just knows the basics for free.

Diana and I have finished harvesting the garden for this year, and put away all our summer stuff. The second overflow on the rain barrel is really helping, and there's less water in the basement when it rains now. I'm in the process of sealing the eaves-troughs with the caulking gun, so all the water heads towards the rain barrel. Next summer I'm going to get some cement blocks and level off the rain barrel. I also plan on raising the ground around the house, so the water flows away from the house. I will extend the downspout in the front so it stops further away from the house. During winter Diana and I will re-seal the basement with mortar and special cement sealant, so next year there shouldn't be anything to worry about.